The city’s principal station was first thought of nearly two centuries ago, in 1822, when a survey was carried out to see if a railway line in the Cambridge area was feasible. Nothing then happened until the 1840s, when an Act of Parliament was passed giving the Northern and Eastern Railway company permission to lay track through to Cambridge. Work started in 1844, and the following year, on July 29, the Cambridge station opened, with services operating from London via Bishop’s Stortford through to Norwich.

In 1847, two more lines were set up, St Ives to Huntingdon, and Ely to Peterborough via March, which became the region’s route for coal freight.

Cambridge station in the 1850s

Six companies ran trains in and out of the new Cambridge station, and they would have liked it to be sited right in the centre of town, but there was opposition from the colleges. They maintained the noise of the locomotives would shatter the studious serenity of their libraries, courts and exam rooms, and they eventually got their way. The station was built a mile from the centre, and even the track itself was curved in an arc to keep it well away from the town. The university also won the right to impose fines on the train companies, if they disturbed the peace and quiet.

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The railway led to a jobs boom for Cambridge. There was already a large workforce involved in the brewery trade, flour-milling and printing, and now coal yards had to be built to keep the trains fuelled. More workers meant more houses, so brick and tile works were built at Cherry Hinton and in Coldham’s Lane, and a cement works was opened at Romsey Town, where many new homes were being constructed.

Rail travellers to Cambridge, 1960s

But the trains signalled the death knell for the river trade that had sustained the local economy for centuries. As freight switched to rail, fewer and fewer barges made the journey from King’s Lynn to the Cambridge hythes delivering wine, food, and fuel. The river was also the lifeblood of Sturbridge Fair, but by the time the station opened, the fair too was on its last legs. Once more than a month long, it lasted for three just days in 1897, and had dwindled from a fairground the size of a small town to a few rows of amusements and confectionery stalls. And the stagecoach business also came to the end of the road, although the Cambridge to Bedford stage carried on until 1894.

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The new Cambridge North station, due to open in May, has been described as the city’s second station in just over 170 years, but Memories reader and ex-city councillor Colin Rosenstiel points out there have in fact been two others, although neither is now up and running – and one only lasted a few days.

Railway station clock, 1987

Colin said: “The second station was Barnwell Junction, opened by the Great Eastern Railway on June 2, 1884 and closed by British Railways on June 18, 1962. The up platform with buildings still exists as kennels and a private house. The track is still there but now disconnected from the main line since traffic to the Ditton Walk oil depot ceased. Less remains of the down platform, but it’s still there too. Its track was lifted in 1962.

“The third station was rather short-lived, opened at Trumpington to serve the 1922 Royal Show. It was just north of Long Road, which in those days had a level crossing over the main line. It opened on July 4, 1922 – and closed on July 8 the same year.”